United Extending Premier Status, Reducing Requirements

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Following Delta’s news of Delta Extending 2020 Medallion Status, United has now announced a similar move, where the airline will be extending 2020 Premier Status for Silver, Gold, Platinum, and 1K Premier members through January 31, 2022.

United will also be extending United Club memberships, Economy Plus, United Wi-Fi and checked bags by six months. Additionally, United will be reducing elite status requirements for 2020 for those who don’t have status or looking to earn a higher tier status by 50%.

The big news: If you have current 2020 Premier status, it will be extended to January 31, 2022. At a minimum, you will enjoy the same published status next year that you have today, up to and including Premier 1K®.

For the 2021 status year, United is reducing thresholds for Premier qualification by 50% for each status level, to make reaching an even higher tier easier. You’ll still need a minimum of four flight segments on United or United Express®.

We’re also doubling PQP for United Explorer cards and quadrupling PQP for the United Club cards.

At the same time that we’re decreasing the published program’s PQP requirements, via a promotion from May 1 – December 31, 2020, we’re doubling (for United Explorer cards) or quadrupling (for United Club cards) the maximum number of PQP that Cardmembers can earn from card spending during 2020 to help achieve a higher level of status than you already have. More details to come later.

This means a six-month extension of any PlusPoints set to expire on or before January 31, 2021.

Last year we introduced Skip Waitlist on select flights as a benefit to 1K members, giving you more opportunities to confirm an upgrade request at the time of booking. This benefit will now be available for the rest of 2020 in a significantly expanded selection of long-haul international regions and will have expanded availability in 2021 as well.

We’re extending all annual membership and subscription benefits by six months.

We want to make sure your benefits are still there when you’re ready to start flying again. That’s why we’re extending purchased United Club℠ memberships purchased directly from United and purchased subscriptions for Economy Plus®, United Wi-Fi℠ and checked bags by six months. You should see this reflected in your MileagePlus account soon.

All electronic travel certificates now have 24 months to be used.

If your travel plans have been disrupted, and you have an electronic travel certificate from us for the value of your ticket, you now have two years from the date it was issued to book a new flight, as well as up to an additional 11 months to travel. This includes all currently valid and all new electronic travel certificates issued on or after April 1, 2020.

We have removed some redeposit fees for the rest of the year.

We are currently waiving all award redeposit fees for travel through end of May 2020.

We are now also waiving all redeposit fees for award ticket cancellations made more than 30 days before departure for the remainder of 2020.

Finally, we’ll be making it easier to earn status in 2021 for the 2022 program year. We recognize that getting back to travel will occur at a different pace for different members. Keep an eye out for changes we will make to help you earn status in 2021 for 2022, as we’ll share details later this year.

Bottom Line

It’s great to see United follow in Delta’s footsteps and extend Premier status for all members for another year. They’re taking it even further by reducing elite status requirements for 2021 by 50%, and will be evaluating next year’s program requirements as well, as they’ll making making similar adjustments.

It’s no surprise that United did these changes as a result of Delta’s announcement yesterday. Now it’s American’s turn to do the same, which I suspect we’ll see in the coming days.

What are your thoughts on United’s announcement extending Premier status for another year and lowering elite requirements? Feel free to share in the comments below.

Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or suggestions expressed on this site are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. For details on current offers visit the card issuer’s site.

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Editorial Note: Opinions, analyses, reviews or suggestions expressed on this site are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

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